Google Releases Picasa Desktop Version for Mac!

Reprinted from http://www.macworld.com/article/137912/2009/01/picasa_mac.html
by Jonathan Seff, Macworld.com

Google on Monday afternoon released a public beta of its Picasa for Mac desktop software for organizing, editing, and uploading photos. The software, which runs on Intel Macs with OS X 10.4 or later, marks the first time that Picasa has been offered for the Mac (it joins the Windows and Linux versions already available).

The free Picasa software is designed to help you organize your photos, regardless of where they reside on your computer. It imports (without moving or copying) photos from your iPhoto library and other folders on your Mac, including external hard drives if so desired (it's designed not to affect your iPhoto library, duplicating files as needed). It also includes many editing tools, such as those for straightening, text generation, create collages, and removing red eye, as well as Photoshop-like effects and adjustments.

I think the best feature of the Picasa software is the fact that my picture files get to stay where they are (since I have so many photos, and I do not keep all of them in iPhoto... I only add my favorites, or those that I will be using in presentations, slideshows, or movies.) And, Picasa scans and displays the photos in your 'iPhoto Library' as read-only files. If you try to edit or move these photos, Picasa will ask your permission to create a new editable copy. Learn more about how Picasa handles your iPhoto Library.

The editing features include the ability to add text and captions to images, as well as "combine your photos, videos, and music into a movie or use the editing room to trim your existing movies."

The "collage" tool provides slick rotating, zooming, background color and text options that make it easy to create a page for your digital scrapbooks, and Picassa automatically saves the file in a folder named "Collages" which resides in your "House > Pictures > Picasa"folder.

There is also a very "Photo-story-ish" movie maker, that will create slides (including title slides) set to music or just automatically moving through the images, complete with transition effects.

There are "easy-buttons" on the bottom of the editor to send your completed masterpiece(s) to your blog, email client, a folder, or to upload to the free online Picasa web gallery:

Download Picasa for your Mac at: http://picasa.google.com/mac/